Virgin Mobile competes on price

[BTTB]

Virgin is really getting my attention!

Between my wife and I we have two 4U contracts with Vodacom.
Looking to move one as a test>

We own our own Cell Phones and do not need any frills and whistles.
I am not the kind of guy that needs the latest cell phone.
My 6210i is quite adequate for my needs and why do I need to upgrade every year.
All I need is something to talk on and get calls with.
The rest does not interest me.
Even SMS sending is a pain in the @ss. All that button pressing isn't my scene.

What I do not need is another Company that wants me to sign a pile of papers just to get a flipping cell phone account, like Vodacom did.
I am sure I signed more papers with vodacom than I did with my own Mortgage Bond with the Bank.
At the time I was not impressed. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I am keen to try one of our phones with Virgin Mobile.
Mainly to cut back on costs as Vodacom prices are ridiculous.
At R2.99 a minute for a call from Vodacom is crazy.
The only benefit are to those customers that make a lot of calls.
They can tie themselves into contracts.
But customers like us only use the phone out of necessity and contracts are often a waste. They need to bridge that market.
Well let's see. I am keen to give Mr Branson a try.

 

[stormers]

Well im very happy with what i recieved for my R89.Got a HOT(its already active) starter pack from musica in tygervalley...just popped in my sim and walla all the settings was sent to my phone.sim also has nice virgin menu where you can V charge,check balance and also check the rewards you recieve,must say the rewards are much better than vodas...starter pack also came with one weeks free workout @ V active and 10% off on flights.

Busy using the sim online right now via gprs and its not bad at all...
Oh yes there sort me out centre still needs to be sorted out.....

Very very happy with my purchase though

 

[ajax]

I'll be using my Virgin sim in my 6680 as a modem. Although there's no 3G yet, at 50c per MB, I can live with EDGE at the moment - the price is just too good to ignore. There's no worries about buying/using up/losing bundles at the end of the month. I only need to recharge with R50 every 90 days.

Virgin's offer is the same as me buying 1 GB on MTN/VC/CC and getting carry-over at the end of the month. I am very impressed.

 

[Mams]

data problems

dont know if im the only one with these problems but here goes:
using a hp ipaq 6515 i can connect but only access certain websites like gmail and google but not myadsl nor telkom speed test.the pages dont open at all...
using my vodacom edge hsdpa card:
it finds network and then gets kicked off network without being able to even connect to internet...spoke to virgins data helpdesk and they say its a network prob which they trying to sort out...so no internet joy for me yet...

 

[jalize]

Got it working in my 6230.

Anyone got it working in a datacard. I'm batteling with my Vodacom Card. The card see the simcard but would not authenticate on the net. Any ideas??

 

[zaphod]

Got it working in my 6230.

Anyone got it working in a datacard. I'm batteling with my Vodacom Card. The card see the simcard but would not authenticate on the net. Any ideas??

I also have problems with my MTN Huawei data card. I basically gave up.

I used the same modem init string which I successfully used on my Nokia 6230 phone : AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","vdata"

I have confirm that the card is not network locked for Virgin Mobile.

Are there anybody out there who were able to connect with Virgin Mobile using the Huawei data card?

 

[charl.voster]

What are the settings for the 6680 on virgin? access point etc?

 

[jalize]

I also have problems with my MTN Huawei data card. I basically gave up.

I used the same modem init string which I successfully used on my Nokia 6230 phone : AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","vdata"

I have confirm that the card is not network locked for Virgin Mobile.

Are there anybody out there who were able to connect with Virgin Mobile using the Huawei data card?

Same problem only with the Vodacom card (Huawei) . Also used "VirginInternet" in place of "vdata"

Basically it sees the Virgin card and give a 3-4 bar GPRS on Cell-C. After trying to log on it fails the authentication and then nothing works further. Have to eject the card and put back again to see the sim again.

Anyone out there???

 

[Mams]

virgin say they know about the prob and are STILL workin on it

 

[jalize]

virgin say they know about the prob and are STILL workin on it

thanks MAMS

 

[Mams]

By the way, if you use more than R200 ( 400mb ) on Virgin, it gets even better! the rate is then 43.5c per mb as you then get 460mb for R200....
how?

This is how:
Every R200 you spend on Virgin, they give you 30 Vrewards = to R30 airtime on your prepaid balance. So if you use R200 you get back another R30 which gives you a further 60mb! so you end up paying 43.5c per mb....

ONLY PROBLEM: still cant get their EDGE ( actually its CELLCs ) to work effectively.Infact it still doesnt even work at all with data card ( Option Nozomi )...

I suppose till CellC dont get 3G ( they say by December) and sort out their 11kbps average EDGE speeds, Vigin wont make inroads on the Data front even though the rates are excellent comparitively...

 

[Highflyer_GP]

Out of bundle R512 per gig on VM versus R2048 per gig on Voda. Hmm tough choice for those who don't want to commit to spending a specific amount of money on a specific amount of data, and risk losing any unused data that they paid for at the end of the month.

 

[Mams]

Out of bundle R512 per gig on VM versus R2048 per gig on Voda. Hmm tough choice for those who don't want to commit to spending a specific amount of money on a specific amount of data, and risk losing any unused data that they paid for at the end of the month.

VM actually costs R445.22 per GB and not R512 per GB.Check my post ( 2 or 3 posts previous to this one)

 

[Highflyer_GP]

Your post wasn't there when I was replying But yeah you're technically correct.

 

[Cube]

I am cautiously excited. I currently have a 100mb bundle on MTN which costs a R100.00. With VM I'll get 200mb for R100.00 which is great as I always go over the budle limit. Plus with the whole vrewards thing thrown in, I am convinced this is the better option. Now I just need to confirm whether I have edge access here as MTN is offering me that already.

Didn't Cell C say they had enabled edge on their entire network already, or did I hear wrong?

 

[br34k]

sigh... gprs works perfectly on my k-jam with the settings I got off my girlfriend's D500 but gprs doesn't work at all on her D500 it just sez connection to the server was lost, WTF!!?

 

[bwana]

Didn't Cell C say they had enabled edge on their entire network already, or did I hear wrong?

Have a look on their website - http://www.cellc.co.za/content/services/smartdatagprs.asp

 

[bwana]

@Mams, so Virgin Mobile already have a data loyalty [or rebate] scheme & are entering the market with it WOW that's excellent - should shake things up a bit & great for customers that fall within CellC's existing EDGE|GPRS coverage - now Virgin Mobile just needs CellC to get an HSDPA network up & running .

V-Rewards. Based on spending so I would assume they're awarded for voice and data.

 

[ajax]

Looks like we both might have jumped some starter pistol:http://www.virginmobile.co.za/virginDiff-rewards.shtmlwhich doesn't take data transfer usage into account - just plain old voice, although there's hope yet...

I just called them, they say Vrewards is for voice and data. I told the lady I was going to quote her on MyADSL and she said she is absolutely sure.

So if you are going to to use more than 400 MB (for R200) in a month, you will actually get 460 MB. C'mon VC/MTN/Cell C, beat that

 

[Moederloos]

Didn't Cell C say they had enabled edge on their entire network already, or did I hear wrong?

I cannot comment on what they may have said at some point, but it is not true that they have EDGE in all areas. And this is straight from their coverage "map".

I am on the border of Weltevreden Park and Allensnek in JHB, and while Weltevreden does have EDGE, Allensnek does NOT.

Since I need the mobile thing for email, some browsing etc while away or on the road, the CELLC/VM jobby suits me fine. Prepaid, cheap and low modem cost.
Others may be advised to check their area properly before committing TOO much. (it is very easy to find a friend whose phone has EDGE and bluetooth, ask them over, insert your VM sim, and see what speeds you get ).